Relaunching the European Retail Finance Market: Comments on the Commission's Green Paper. ECRI Commentary No. 20, 15 December 2015

The European Commission’s Green Paper on retail financial services, published on December 10th, provides valuable insights into the possible benefits of a single market, as well as the obstacles to its development and the possible remedies. While a greater diversity of products within countries could have a positive impact on both consumers and providers, it is also important to highlight that it could contribute to more effective macroeconomic policies at European level. The development of such a single market for Europe where consumers can confidently purchase more profitable financial products abroad necessitates the establishment of a European body along the lines of the US Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), or at least the establishment of closer European supervisory cooperation and enforcement. A framework for the digitalisation of financial services should not only focus on mitigating specific types of risk, such as cyber insecurity, lack of privacy and financial exclusion, but it should also continue to maintain a “space of creation” for innovative financial firms.

Casual jobs and internal labour markets

This paper examines the role of casual employment as a route into permanent employment. Using a competing risks framework we compare transitions from casual to permanent employment made within the firm and to other firms. We also examine the wage outcomes and job durations of these two transitions. It is found that internal transitions occur at all occupational levels and display characteristics associated with probationary employment. Thus, as suggested by previous case study evidence, permanent positions at all levels in the firm are open to a degree of external competition.

Green supply chain performance measurement using fuzzy ANP-based balanced scorecard:a collaborative decision-making approach

The purpose of this paper is to delineate a green supply chain (GSC) performance measurement framework using an intra-organisational collaborative decision-making (CDM) approach. A fuzzy analytic network process (ANP)-based green-balanced scorecard (GrBSc) has been used within the CDM approach to assist in arriving at a consistent, accurate and timely data flow across all cross-functional areas of a business. A green causal relationship is established and linked to the fuzzy ANP approach. The causal relationship involves organisational commitment, eco-design, GSC process, social performance and sustainable performance constructs. Sub-constructs and sub-sub-constructs are also identified and linked to the causal relationship to form a network. The fuzzy ANP approach suitably handles the vagueness of the linguistics information of the CDM approach. The CDM approach is implemented in a UK-based carpet-manufacturing firm. The performance measurement approach, in addition to the traditional financial performance and accounting measures, aids in firms decision-making with regard to the overall organisational goals. The implemented approach assists the firm in identifying further requirements of the collaborative data across the supply-cain and information about customers and markets. Overall, the CDM-based GrBSc approach assists managers in deciding if the suppliers performances meet the industry and environment standards with effective human resource. © 2013 Taylor & Francis.

Enviropreneurial marketing in greening corporate activities: Evidence from four Chinese green firms

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to explore the enviropreneurial marketing approach used by firms in China and its impact on the success of green marketing actions, with the aim of drawing useful lessons from the literature and successful green firms. Design/methodology/approach: This study follows the inductive case study approach, and the qualitative data come from a study of four firms engaging in enviropreneurial marketing activities. Interview data were triangulated with qualitative data from other sources. Findings: The evidence from this study indicates that enviropreneurial marketing plays a central role in developing innovative product or services, adopting an innovative and pragmatic green marketing mix that differentiates and creates changes within industry and markets. Research limitations/implications: The main limitation of this study is that data samples are from successful firms labelled as “green” by the Chinese authorities, based on winning “official” awards. These do not necessarily represent the opinions of a cross section of firms within China with respect to enviropreneurial marketing. Future studies should include a mixed population of firms. Practical implications: Policy makers and marketing practitioners need to consider drivers to ensure that Chinese firms integrate enviropreneurial marketing activities, which need to complement the delivery of functional value. Social implications: Green initiatives/changes within the firm seem to be partly driven by the environmental orientation of these firms’ founders, thus, developing an environmental orientation in managers may be important to drive enviropreneurial marketing activities. Originality/value: This study contributes by confirming the current literature on green marketing and examining the positive impact of enviropreneurial marketing on firms’ performance in the context of marketing in emerging markets.

Industrial Heritage: Atarazanas Market’s squares in Málaga

This abstract tries to make known one of the first attempts to recuperate the buildings heritage at the end of the 19th century in Spain: It’s called Atarazanas Market’s squares in Málaga, a marvellous Joaquín Rucoba’s architect work. It is one of the first examples in iron architecture in Spain which opted preservation building heritage from the respect of the place memory even in his last restoration.